Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, ordered the continuation of the demolition of Palestinian homes in Jerusalem during the holy month of Ramzan, leading to condemnation from the Palestinian Foreign Ministry.
The Israeli authorities usually refrain from carrying out demolitions in East Jerusalem during Ramzan due to religious sensitivity.
On Monday, the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation said, “National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir asked the police to continue demolishing homes built without permits in East Jerusalem during the month of Ramzan.”
Commenting on this, the Israeli minister said on Israeli radio (Kan) on Monday morning, that Ramadan does not mean that we should settle down and surrender to those who break the law because of the advent of this month.
The police are also preparing to implement the instructions of the Israeli minister, despite the potential cost and the warnings issued by the heads of the Israeli security services about Ben Gvir’s movements east of Jerusalem
Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned “in the strongest terms” the Israeli minister’s statements, and considered them “an incitement to further escalation of the situation in the conflict arena.”
The ministry said in a statement, “These positions are liable to ignite more fires in the arena of conflict, especially as they fall within the context of what Jerusalem is being subjected to in terms of large-scale Judaization and Israeliization operations that lead as a result to operations and crimes of ethnic cleansing and forcible deportation.”
The ministry held “the Israeli government fully and directly responsible for the occupation’s crimes and continuous violations in Jerusalem.”
Since assuming the position of Minister of National Security in December 2022, Ben Gvir has directed the acceleration of the demolition of Palestinian-owned buildings in the city of East Jerusalem, built without a permit.
According to human rights organisations, Palestinians in Jerusalem also face great difficulties in obtaining building permits, which cost tens of thousands of dollars for each apartment.
Palestinian National Information Center says that the number of homes demolished since Israel’s occupation of Jerusalem in 1967 has reached more than 1,900.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) announced in a report that, from the beginning of 2023 until the end of February, the Israeli authorities demolished 67 homes in East Jerusalem, claiming “unauthorized construction.”
On the other hand, the authorities demolished 143 homes throughout 2022, and in 181 homes in 202, according to the same report.
Palestinian circles in Jerusalem estimate that there are about 20,000 homes threatened with demolition in East Jerusalem on the grounds of “unauthorized construction.”
